Middle Orient

An American journalist, living in northwestern Syria for nearly a decade, has been released, six months after he was captured by an al-Qaeda-linked militant group, Syrian opposition media reported. Bilal Abdul Kareem, a native of Mount Vernon, N.Y., has been living in the rebel-held Syrian northwest since 2012, reporting on …

The intense activity of ISIS mercenaries comes in the absence of Russian warplanes for more than 48 hours from bombing the Badia, while helicopters and warplanes of the Damascus government carried out about ten air strikes in the past 48 hours. In a related context, the Syrian Observatory for Human …

The controversial Geert Wilders has had spats with the Turkish government before amid wider crises between Turkey and the Netherlands. The Turkish government and a far-right Dutch politician are in a row over a tweet portraying the Turkish president as a terrorist and Islamic State (IS) supporter.

India will also join the defense maneuver, according to the Iranian navy. The Iranian military began a naval drill with Indian and Russian forces on Tuesday.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said attempts to blame Tehran for the attack are “suspicious.” Iran’s government Tuesday denied involvement in Monday night’s rocket strike that killed one person and injured nine in Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Ansar al-Tawhid recently attacked a Russian operations room in the south of Idlib governate, killing and injuring several soldiers on the site, raising questions about the group’s identity and affiliations.

A rocket attack on a US base in northern Iraq is putting pressure on the Iraqi government and challenging the Biden administration’s policy in Iraq. At exactly 9:30 pm local time on Feb. 15, several rockets were launched on US coalition forces located inside Erbil’s international airport from the southern …

As the Russian-brokered Tafas agreement in the western countryside of Daraa between the Syrian regime and the Central Committee enters into force, the regime is now seeking to take over the towns outside its control in southern Syria before the upcoming 2021 presidential elections.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has monitored this morning an armed attack by gunmen in a car on a military position belonging to the “Ahrar al-Sharqiya” faction on al-Ra’i road inside the city of Al-Bab, which is under the control of Turkish forces and proxy factions in eastern Aleppo …

Russia is mediating a deal for the release of an Israeli girl who accidentally crossed into Syria, in exchange for two Syrians held by Israel, Syrian state media said on Wednesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to comment on the report by SANA news agency during an interview with …